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21/01/2020 - Froggy Friendships and Miscellaneous Marketing
TL;DR * Merric fixed the dam with help of some of the stronger members of the party * Scribbulus , Khrom and Gimble made friends with some frogs and had a really wholesome time, they led Khrom to an old shield * Blagden found a shiny * Most people went into the wizard’s tower again but Bayul and Rocky stayed outside to play a game of Death Hammer * Bird Person flew into the wizard’s office and had bants * The others made it up the tower and gave the wizard supplies - he gave them a bag of holding and another potion * They left with plans to go to the now-drunk Captain Trimaeus Backtrack to the Market: * People bought random shit * Introduced to Leoven the firbolg We resume our adventure as the party checks out the dam… The Mine With no (live) smelly bois in the way, Merric set to work inspecting the dam more closely. He found that the water wheel was effectively in bits and there were clear signs of sabotage in the deep claw marks lashed across the surface of the wood. The turning mechanism that usually enabled the whole thing to function was stuck in the locked position, causing the water to rise steadily behind. He set about first reassembling the wheel, his mind whirring into action as his intuition for the fundamental engineering principles at work helped him to piece it back together bit by bit. While they waited, Bayul motioned for Narko and Khrom to follow him up onto the side of the dam. Staying alert, he motioned for them to scope out the area for any remaining foes. However, the darkness proved too much for them to be certain the danger was fully averted and they remained wary. Acting independently, Kunai got Rocky over to explore further into the darkness. Through the gloom, they just about made out a pair of beady little eyes poking up out of the water. As Kunai went to fetch Scribbulus , Gimble wandered up alongside Rocky and identified the eyes as belonging to an amphibious creature of some sort. Bayul , Khrom and Narko were still on guard and deeply suspicious. Meanwhile, Blagden seized the opportunity of the group being otherwise engaged to hunt for shiny stuff. Glancing around, he noticed a slight glint off to the far right of the cavern. Drawn to it like a moth to fire, he found the source of the light to be a small rock sticking out from the wall. Judging that this was a job for the knife and there was no need for the crowbar, he began to pry it out. Merric began the rebuilding by laying out the parts of the broken wheel, but had a hard time managing the large pieces of timber. Seeing his plight, Bayul asked Narko to lend him some assistance, and he begrudgingly offered his services. Grateful for the extra muscle and now with a free hand to have a chuff on his pipe, Merric began directing Narko and whipped out his tinkers tools. Rodrik also aided the process greatly and made it significantly more dramatic by having his cloak billow as he stood nearby. Excited by the prospect of meeting new animal friends, Scribbulus hurried over to the water’s edge with Kunai , Gimble , Khrom and Bayul . “Hello there!” he opened pleasantly. As he spoke to the eyes calmingly, assuring the owner that they were meant no harm, more eyes popped up. At first just a second pair, then a third and then a fourth. At that point Kunai warned everyone to be on their toes and all except for Bayul and Scribbulus hid. Well Gimble and Kunai hid; Khrom found a barrel that hid at most a third of him. Afraid of the situation descending into violence, Scribbulus whispered the incantation for 'animal friendship', hoping to gain the trust of the creatures enough to find out what they were. As the words left his lips, the eyes disappeared below the surface and a few little bubbles emerged in their stead. A second or two later, a frog hopped out onto the side by Scribbulus , who laughed in delight. The others all followed and watched as Scribbulus’s halfling form instantaneously became a giant frog, hopping happily beside them. Gimble padded over, focusing on one new friend in particular. “Hello Mr Frog!”. Sadly (but as usual) he came on a bit strong and the frog hopped back towards the water rather than lose all its social cred by associating with this rando. Kunai asked Scribbulus if he recognised the creatures, who replied that he did. “Ribbit”. The frogs became wary once more as the vast form of Khrom appeared as if by magic from behind the barrel and lumbered towards them, but relaxed again as he sat placidly and began work on some magic to communicate with them. Having witnessed Gimble’s rejection, Scribbulus led the frogs back over to him to socialise, and this time Gimble managed to not be quite as creepy. After just a few minutes, Khrom opened his mouth to speak and to him it sounded perfectly normal. “Hello FrogToads, I’m not being aggressive just want to chat". As far as he was concerned they proceeded to have a very pleasant conversation. Everyone else was slightly puzzled by the massive bugbear communicating in baritone ribbits with a creature almost two orders of magnitude smaller than himself. Completely bemused by frogs as a concept, Rocky decided to chip in with the dam building process. He wandered over to Narko and offered his services, finding himself greeted warmly by the relieved centaur. With Rocky’s help the dam was finally completed, and he gave a triumphant little ditty as the last pieces were put in place, with Rodrik applauding and billowing in support. Aware of the timescale for the job, Narko asked if the mechanism required testing and, before any discussion was had, Rocky just declared that they should “spin the bastard”. And did so. Thankfully, after a few seconds of squeaky-bum time, the water flowed through and they heard machines throughout the mine begin to rumble back to life. Having spent the time productively studying his new shiny thing, Blagden realised that they were done and slipped the rock into his wrist pocket-dimension. When Rocky asked where he’d got to, Blagden just said he was watching, and that they couldn’t blame him as the others were all talking to frogs and that wasn’t useful. Meanwhile, Khrom was busy asking the frogs a useful thing; if the ‘trilobites' left any stuff behind. The chief frog led his unlikely conversation partner to the far side of the water and gestured (with his tongue presumably) into the depths. Reaching down into the water Khrom drew forth a great silver shield adorned with metal plating. Excited by this find everyone gathered around, and while there was general disagreement about the relative value of 3 and 5 gold coins, Kunai and Rodrik both confidently identified the embossed sigil as that of the Iysgarthian Kingsguard. Realising that the hour deadline was rapidly closing in, everyone made great haste for the mine entrance. Thanking the frogs for their help, Khrom followed the group out as they bustled back out of the cavern. While most impeded one another more than anything, Rodrik’s agile form darted ahead. He burst into Fargrim’s office just as the last of the sand trickled through the hourglass. Proudly informing Fargrim of their success, Rodrik received his personal payment of 10 gold just as several others stumbled in. “Look I told you we’d get it done tiny manager, aren’t we amazing?”, Rocky greeted him. As Rocky continued to boast proudly of the noble deeds of the party, Fargrim noticed Gimble staring at him with an odd look and suddenly became extremely interested in a set of papers he had nearby. “Ere, don’t I know you? I’m sure I recognise you from somewhere, sure of it!”, Gimble insisted. A couple of the beefier dwarves tasked with guard duties saw their master’s plight. Seeing that he was being made extremely uncomfortable and just generally not keen on Gimble themselves, they ushered him quickly out of the door despite his protests (though he did enjoy the contact). Bayul entered with a quick frown at seeing Gimble’s general circumstance and marched over to Fargrim to give his recommendation on installing better defences in the mine. As the last of the group passed through the mine entrance and collected their payment, Kunai bid Fargrim farewell and Rocky was handed the wizard’s supplies. The Wizard's Tower The party gathered outside the mine, in the shadow of the wizard’s tower. Various people began to express a desire to go into the tower, and not being keen at all himself Bayul proposed that those who had previously not been in should go. Even as he spoke, Blagden scuttled in the direction of the bridge with Khrom hot on his heels. Kunai suggested to Bayul that they should send in someone who knew what to expect from the wizard’s tricks (other than Blagden ). Before long, it was just Bayul and Rocky left. “Alright big nose, what do you wanna do?”. Fist clenching and unclenching, Bayul responded briskly “We practice the art of combat or we wait”. Finding some common ground, the two began a pleasant game of 'catch the heavy bludgeoning weapon’ using Rosie the Hammer. The others bustled into the tower and Blagden immediately made for the same door. Seeing the light turn from white to orange, Kunai yelled out “Goblin, stooooop!” and Blagden skidded to a halt. “We went fru this way last time!!”. This time the group couldn’t seem to get any lights to turn green by approaching the doors. Gimble and Merric began investigating the magical auras, while Kunai suggested that bird person should explore the outside. He dived out of the door and, pumping his wings powerfully, ascended the sheer surface of the tower. He found a window and saw an old wizard beavering away inside. Eventually the others discovered that Khrom , Scribbulus and Narko all caused the light to turn green and they simply held the door for everyone else to file through. Eyeing the spiral staircase with skepticism, Narko began to ascend carefully, all 4 hoofed limbs mostly finding footing. Outside, bird person was figuring out how to get into the office. It was only after contemplating traversing through planes to get in via a portal he could see inside that he noticed the window was open. Sheepishly, he entered, startling the wizard. “Ooh my! Who are you?!”. The two of them were soon friends and had some top banter about the centaur trying to get up the stairs. Feeling suddenly peckish, Bird Person made a snap decision to pop to a different plane for snacks and made a b-line for the portal. It was only the wizard’s frantic “you mustn’t go in there!!” that brought him to a halt. And as it turned out, that prevented him from becoming an Unlucky Fried Chicken in the plane of fire. Khrom’s impeccable manners once again proved a match for any obstacle and it wasn’t long before the rest of the party made their way into the office, Narko with a grim expression set into his face. They were greeted by the merry sight of Bird Person and Master Quayl getting on like a plane on fire. Narko handed over the supplies, and Master Quayl began to work his arcane crafts. Everyone gathered around, intrigued by the inscrutable toiling of the old wizard bent over his desk. It was a messy process, but clearly extremely meticulous. Merric made what notes he could but the procedure remained mostly an enigma. Turning around at last, Master Quayl unveiled the products of his industry: a bag of holding and a bag of 'golding’. Having earned himself a new friend with top chat and friendliness, Bird Person was given stewardship of the bag of holding. Master Quayl then offered out the bag of golding. Blagden immediately piped up that he’d be keen but earned only a kick from Kunai . Narko reached out for it instead and there was a general consensus that he was a reasonably trustworthy carrier. For the purposes of getting back down, Master Quayl mentioned that there was a magical lift. Proud and stubborn as ever, Narko declared that he’d much prefer to go down under his own steam. Naturally, he immediately tripped over the top step and began to tumble down with his legs flailing in the air. Seeing the coming peril, Scribbulus tactically placed himself to cast feather fall and saved Narko some bruises, if not his pride, as he rebounded slowly down the staircase. Blagden absolutely loved watching this and got a second wave of giggles when Gimble , seeing Narko’s plight, descended most of the way and threw his body down the remaining few steps in solidarity. Bird Person went straight back to the window and cannonballed out, gliding back down to the base of the tower. Kunai decided to be the cool guy and took the lift. Cranking the magical handle, he was soon subjected to that most unpleasant of experiences: elevator music. He stood, serious-faced and cross-armed, meditating the pain away while torturous jolly tunes rung through the small space. It was late but not yet midnight when everyone finally emerged in their own way and they discussed the final item to be completed; acquiring a ship and crew. Merric mentioned the substantial amount of gold he’d put behind the bar for Captain Trimaeus , "I’d imagine he's sufficiently socially lubricated by now”. They decided to make their way back to the tavern, with Rocky in tow as a guaranteed way of getting them a hearty welcome. Back to the Market (4pm that day) We resume (again) as the group is merrily making their way to the market... After a sterling performance in the battle of the beach, Rocky declared Bird Person his official hammer catcher. Noting that he’s very attached to the hammer (Rosie), Narko asked him how long he’d had it. “Ever since I was born”, Rocky explained. He’d used it (her) as a pillow for as long as he could remember, and she’d been his constant companion. He also expressed his wish for Rosie to be able to always return to him, and to turn on fire so he could cook chicken. Overhearing this technical challenge, Merric put in that he may be able to help Rocky to make his dream come true, which made Rocky emotional. Merric was named his favourite small person and Rocky promised to never kick him. Upon arriving at the market, everyone set about their own business. Merric searched out a smithy and enquired after a bracer that would be pliable enough for him to customise into an extendable shield. He found something seemingly appropriate for the handsome sum of 15 gold pieces. Rocky unfortunately failed in his search for a plank of wood to use as a shield, finding only actual shields instead. They were about to leave when a figure with a stature to rival even mighty Khrom . The Firbolg introduced himself as Leoven , or ‘Leo’. Meanwhile, Bird Person was on the hunt for parts to a new miraculous invention he called a ‘pillow’, and successfully sold the concept to those of the group without pre-existing head sleeping arrangements (i.e. Rocky and Rosie). Many cloth sacks were acquired. A search for dry rations yielded fruition, but ultimately the uncertainty over funding and the fact that everyone wanted to buy more fun stuff meant they declined the purchase temporarily. Alone, Narko ventured to the signature smoky doorway of the alchemical shop. Unable to afford some of the fancy potions he was eyeing up, he instead drew out a pouch from his belt. “Do you know where I might purchase more of this?”, he asked as he opened the bag slightly. The shopkeeper let out a gasp as he saw what was inside. “Put that away quick! That sort of thing is illegal ‘round here.”. Narko wasn't impressed at the shopkeeper's unwillingness to trade openly, but nevertheless they came to a mutual understanding that there may be business to be had in the future. Merric , Scribbulus and Rocky then strolled into the mage shop next door. Merric was disappointed when his 70 gold couldn’t quite buy him a new wand or staff, while Scribbulus bought a goodberry scroll for emergency Wilbur-feeding, and Rocky enquired about hammer-based enchantments, specifically to “make shit hot and cook chickens”. The wizard made him an offer of 350 gold for low level versions of the enchantments he had always wanted. Reaching into several separate compartments of his legwear to bring forth multiple bulging pouches, Rocky was on the edge of accepting. Ultimately though, they realised that Merric’s own tinkering would not have been compatible with the wizard’s, and he declined. Merric was then considering a spell scroll at 90 gold, slightly outside his price range. Generously, Narko offered half a dead eagle to act as possible spell components, but the wizard politely declined this thoughtful offer. Flushed with cash money, Rocky threw 90 gold directly at the wizard. “We’ll take it!”. Narko pointed out that Rocky had actually thrown less than a third of the price, so he made up the rest. Counting the gold to make sure, the wizard finally handed over the scroll. Lastly, at a textiles stall, Rocky struck a bargain price on some very soft blankets by recognising and charming the shopkeeper; a blushing former client of his. We will return to our adventurers as they go off to the tavern to see Captain Trimaeus ...